Kickstarter

UPDATE!

We did it! I was hoping we could hit $3000 by the end, and we did it with 9 days left! Thank you all so much!

First, a big new goal, then a few smaller goals along the way in case we don't get there..

If I can get to $5000 by the deadline, I'll do THREE issues in one volume as a perfect-bound trade paperback, and I'll write them to be a self-contained story. As it stands right now, you're getting two issues in an ongoing series, but at $5000 I'll work it so that one major plot line gets resolved by the end of the third issue. It won't answer every question or wrap up every storyline, but there will be a clear 'through-line' in those three issues, and they'll be collected in one 54-page volume.

Because that's a pretty big goal to reach in nine days, I'm offering the following mini-goals:

At $3500, everyone pledging $15 or more will get a print of their choice (in addition to any prints already included in your reward). There will be four to choose from, one of Zoey, and one of each of her three roommates in the dorm.

At $4000, it becomes two prints.

At $4500, it becomes three prints.

This means that if you pledged $50 (the reward that gives you a print), you could end up with as many as all four. Only those pledging $100 will get the rare, limit-15 prints, though. Those backers therefore stand to get five prints - all four of Zoey and her roommates AND the rare, limited edition print.

In the coming days I'll be posting art of each of the standard prints you can choose from, and some character profiles to give you a bit better idea who each character is to help you choose.

THE CREATOR

Larime Taylor is a disabled mouth artist living in California. Life on $750 a month from Social Security isn’t easy, so he supplements his income with his art. Larime draws with his mouth on a Wacom Cintiq tablet generously provided by Wacom. 

THE STORY 

Some people become killers.

Zoey was born that way.

Ever since she can remember, Zoey Aarons has felt the urge to kill. For eighteen years she resisted those urges and fought to be someone better than her base instincts would allow. In a moment of weakness and anger, however, she let go and took a life. That hazy Seattle summer day still haunts her, and as she begins college far away from home, she's afraid that she will kill again.

She's right to be afraid.

Instead of leaving that fateful day behind her and starting a new life as a college freshman, Zoey's about to be tested and face temptation in ways far greater than she could ever imagine. The prestigious women's college that she's attending on a full academic scholarship is in Cutter's Circle, California, and Cutter's Circle has a dirty little secret: it has the highest population of serial killers in the country. The town is up to its proverbial severed head in murderers.

Creator Larime Taylor grew up on the deadpan humor of eighties cult classic Heathers, the quirky absurdism of Edward Scissorhands, and far too many bad slasher flicks. Mixing tongue-in-cheek black comedy with gritty drama and suspense, his resulting creation proudly wears its influences on its sleeve. He writes, draws, tones, and letters the book himself, which is envisioned as an ongoing monthly series of 18 black-and-white pages, densely packed with content in the vein of FELL.

THE IDEA

I'm wanting DARK ZOEY to become an ongoing series at a creator-owned publisher, and rather than simply sending a pitch and 5 sample pages, I want to send potential publishers an entire, finished #1. That's where YOU come in.

By helping me cover the costs of creating and self-publishing this issue, you'll get a copy of it of your very own. If it gets picked up by a publisher, great, but either way you get a copy. The best case scenario is that you get a rare #1 BEFORE it gets published and hits shelves. The worst  case scenario is you get a comic book you helped create. 

It's a win-win situation.

If things go REALLY well, who knows? I might just continue self-publishing.

THE ART